A former Syrian air force colonel is unfit to stand trial in a landmark British case charging him with three counts of murder as crimes against humanity for attacks on civilians in 2011, a judge said Friday.
Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Salem al-Salem, 58, in the Central Criminal Court after prosecutors accepted medical findings that his rare neurological condition was too advanced for him to enter a plea or face trial. Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb stated that al-Salem will face a trial of facts next year on murder and torture allegations, though he will not be required to appear in court. This trial will determine whether he committed the acts but cannot result in a conviction due to his condition.
Al-Salem is the first person in the United Kingdom to be charged with murder as a crime against humanity under the International Criminal Court Act of 2001. British law allows prosecutors to bring charges for certain international offenses, including crimes against humanity and torture, irrespective of where they occurred.
Prosecutors contend that al-Salem was part of a Syrian Air Force Intelligence group responsible for suppressing demonstrations in the Damascus suburb of Jobar during a government crackdown in 2011. "The defendant ordered officers under his command to shoot protesters and he himself shot protesters," prosecutor Emilie Pottle stated at a previous hearing. "The murders were part of a widespread and systemic attack against the civilian population."
Al-Salem, who appeared via video link wearing an oxygen mask, suffers from a progressive and fatal motor neuron disease that has resulted in paralysis in all four limbs, cognitive impairment, and limited communication abilities, according to prosecutor Tom Little. "The motor neuron disease is now advanced. In addition, there is associated depression, apathy and cognitive impairment as well as severely restricted speech," Little read from a doctor's report. "The defendant is monosyllabic and only really understandable to close family."
He faces charges related to the deaths of Omar Al-Homsi, Nizar Fayoumi-AlKhatib, and Talhat Dalal in April and July 2011, and a count of conduct ancillary to murder in the death of Mohammed Salim Zahrak Balik. Al-Salem is also accused of torturing three other individuals as part of his official duties, with prosecutors alleging he was present and participated in interrogations where detainees were subjected to beatings, electric shocks, and had their hands cuffed to ceilings.